When an emotional Mac developer wrote a lengthy e-mail about an issue to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the multi-billionaire responded succinctly via his iPhone.

Development company The Little App Factory hit a stumbling block when Apple requested they change the name of their application iPodRip, which had been around since 2003. The software, which has more than five million downloads, allows users to transfer songs from their iPod and iPhone to their computer.

Apple requested that the company change the name of the application, because it had the word iPod in it. Jon Devor, CEO of The Little App Factory, decided he would take his issue directly to Jobs who, surprisingly, replied to his note. The e-mail reportedly read:

Change your apps name. Not that big of a deal.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

In response, The Little App Factory changed the name of their software to iRip, avoiding any potential legal issues with Apple.

E-mails from Jobs, particularly short ones, are not unheard of. In 2008, the Apple co-founder told one Mac user that changes in video camera technology reduced the need for FireWire on the 13-inch MacBook.

Earlier this month, Jobs was named Fortune magazine's "CEO of the Decade" for his role in turning Apple into the most valuable company in Silicon Valley. The 54-year-old has helped his company dominate the portable music player space and change the smartphone business.

Devor's original e-mail is included in its entirety, courtesy CrunchGear:

Dear Mr. Jobs,

My name is John Devor and Im the co-owner of a small Mac shareware company named The Little App Factory and a long-term Apple customer and shareholder. I doubt youre aware but we recently received a letter from a law firm working on Apples behalf instructing us that we had violated several of Apples trademarks in our application iPodRip and asking us to cease using the name and Apple trademarks in our icons.

We have been distributing iPodRip since 2003 with the aim of providing a method to recover music, movies and photos from iPods and iPhones in the event of a serious hardware failure on their Mac which leads to data loss. Our goal has been to provide the highest quality product coupled with the highest quality service in a bid to resolve some of the angst that is generated by such an ordeal; service befitting of an Apple product. In this department we think we have succeeded as we have approximately 6 million customers, many Apple employees, music artists and other notable people in society. In fact Id argue that our customer service is the best of all competing applications in our niche as many of them are scams and frauds that leave Apple customers with a terrible taste in their collective mouths. We fear very much that tens of thousands of Apple customers looking to recover their own music and having heard of our product via word-of-mouth or otherwise, will instead find a product produced by one of our competitors, and will wind up the victim of a scam (one closely-named competitor charges a hidden monthly fee, for instance).

It is quite obvious that we mean Apple no harm with the use of the name iPodRip, or of the inclusion of trademarked items in our icons, and in fact I believe that we have been providing an excellent secondary service to Apple customers that has potentially caused you many repeat clients. In fact, we are quite aware that Apple support and store staff have recommended our software on numerous occasions as far back as 2004 so we have felt that we were doing something right!

With this in mind, we are in desperate need of some assistance and we beseech you to help us to protect our product and our shareware company, both of which we have put thousands upon thousands of hours of work into. Our company goal is to create Mac software of the highest quality with the best user experience possible. I myself dropped out of school recently to pursue a path in the Mac software industry, and you yourself have been a consistent inspiration for me.

If there is anything at all you can do with regards to this matter, we would be most grateful.

What does John expect from Steve? Changing the name of a product is not like asking them to ceasing making it and want a chunk of money from them. That said, if it's not that "big of a deal" why bother suing the small company?

There is a reason I hate copyright/trademark laws, it's all written in stone. You can sue people for using "ipod" in a product name that aren't even a direct competitor, what's next? Of course, the claim would be Apple spent money advertising that brand and others benefit from it...it wouldn't be right??? BTW, look up how Google defended itself from similar law sue from Geico years ago.

Is that this developer actually thought this would fly in the first place. If it was some other type of problem I would have been sympathetic, but he was flagrantly in violation of the trademark, so of COURSE they're going to have a problem with it. He should have been bending over backwards once legal got a hold of him, not trying to argue he should be able to keep the name. He's lucky he wasn't sued about it. Did he actually think they were going to go, "Well, okay, just for you buddy, we'll make a single exception."

Hm, if it's not that big of a deal, Steve, then why is Apple asking for the name change in the first place? \

It's not that big of a deal, right Steve? Right?? Steve??? Not that big of a deal????? Hello?? Can anybody hear me??? Not that big of a deal Apple??? So why the fuss Apple???? Steve????? Can we say, "hypocrisy?" Apparently it is a big deal to Apple, so why belittle it Stevieboy? Steve??? It's a bid deal for Apple???? Right??????? Steve?????? You there?

No answer! Steve's iPhone must be down, out of commission, no bars, no signal, dropped call because the cellular carrier HE said Apple would chose and fit their needs was AT&T (Cingular).

Ten years ago, we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash. Today we have no Jobs, no Hope and no Cash.

Hm, if it's not that big of a deal, Steve, then why is Apple asking for the name change in the first place? \

It's not that big of a deal, right Steve? Right?? Steve??? Not that big of a deal????? Hello?? Can anybody hear me??? Not that big of a deal Apple??? So why the fuss Apple???? Steve????? Can we say, "hypocrisy?" Apparently it is a big deal to Apple, so why belittle it Stevieboy? Steve??? It's a bid deal for Apple???? Right??????? Steve?????? You there?

No answer! Steve's iPhone must be down, out of commission, no bars, no signal, dropped call because the cellular carrier HE said Apple would chose and fit their needs was AT&T (Cingular).

It's a trademark issue. A big deal in terms of the law. Not a big deal in terms of a dev changing the name in order to avoid legal troubles.

Hm, if it's not that big of a deal, Steve, then why is Apple asking for the name change in the first place? \

It's not that big of a deal, right Steve? Right?? Steve??? Not that big of a deal????? Hello?? Can anybody hear me??? Not that big of a deal Apple??? So why the fuss Apple???? Steve????? Can we say, "hypocrisy?" Apparently it is a big deal to Apple, so why belittle it Stevieboy? Steve??? It's a bid deal for Apple???? Right??????? Steve?????? You there?

No answer! Steve's iPhone must be down, out of commission, no bars, no signal, dropped call because the cellular carrier HE said Apple would chose and fit their needs was AT&T (Cingular).

Hey Einstein, changing the name is not that big of a deal. Keeping it is. Everyone got it, why not you?

Apple requested they change the name of their application iPodRip, which had been around since 2003.

I can see how the developer wanted to keep the name he's been using for years, but he really should have known better in the first place. I'm actually surprised Apple hadn't sent him cease and desist letters long before he ever created an iPhone version of his app. He's basically been a squatter since 2003 and now is being asked to move off their property.

Steve Jobs has really devolved into an asshole -- a fuckhead to the highest degree.

I really can't wait until there's a real competitor to Apple. Apple and Steve Jobs have become arrogant little pricks.

A preemptive fuck you to anyone that disagrees with me. Yes, that means *YOU*.

"devolved?" "have become?"

While I won't go as far as to say Jobs is "a fuckhead to the highest degree," I will say that Jobs has always been an "asshole" and "an arrogant little prick." Go to folklore.org and read the stories written by people who worked on the original Macintosh project and you'll see what I mean.

Hm, if it's not that big of a deal, Steve, then why is Apple asking for the name change in the first place? \

You forget that there are two sides to the issue. If two guys are parked on the street talking to each other thus blocking the road. Someone would ask them to move off the road citing that it wouldn't be a big deal for them to do so. The fact that they are blocking the road is a a pretty big deal to the people that can't get by though.

Here Jobs is saying that changing the name of their app isn't a big deal. That doesn't mean that Apple protecting their trademarks isn't a big deal to Apple.

It is quite obvious that we mean Apple no harm with the use of the name iPodRip, or of the inclusion of trademarked items in our icons, and in fact I believe that we have been providing an excellent secondary service to Apple customers that has potentially caused you many repeat clients.

Were I SJ, I wouldn't probably be able to answer that...

We mean Apple no harm.

People are lovers, basically. -- Engadget livebloggers at the iPad mini event.